I am trying to figure out how to have the touchpad on my moms ASUS laptop turn off automatically when she plugs in her USB mouse, this one does not seem to have a hardware switch like many of my hp laptops have had which make it easy. It seems to be a generic synaptics touchpad but I can't seem to find any information on how to do this with the utility. She is running win7 64bit ultimate.

The option is driver-specific. I have the Asus G51J with a Synaptics touchpad. The option to disable the touchpad is included in the Synaptics driver. I also know that this option is available with the ALPS touchpad/pointing-stick driver included for Dell laptops.

I have an Asus laptop as well, and I'm afraid there's no such option. I must admit that HP laptops make it easy for you to switch off the trackpad by a simple press of a button above the trackpad.

For other brands though, Asus included, you'll have to fire off a Fn+F(something) key sequence to disable the touchpad.

Just like some laptops have dedicated media buttons, etc, laptops like ThinkPads and some Asus ones require you to hit those Fn+F(something) key combos to get something done, e.g. muting the system.

Yeah even a key combo would be fine, but as far as I can tell there is no fn+ key that will do the trick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComGuards

The option is driver-specific. I have the Asus G51J with a Synaptics touchpad. The option to disable the touchpad is included in the Synaptics driver. I also know that this option is available with the ALPS touchpad/pointing-stick driver included for Dell laptops.

I noticed you can disable it, but is there a way to re-enable it automatically when the mouse is pulled out?I don't want the computer getting stuck with no mouse and no active touchpad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pheatton

I would try the latest driver package. See if its there once its installed.

This is exactly what I have installed, I just can't seem to find an option for it to disable when the mouse is in and enable when it is out.

Click on 'Mouse' in the control panel. Then click on the 'Elan' tab and click on the box by 'Disable touchpad when external mouse connected'. It can also be enabled going back to that tab and unchecking the box. The problem I have is that when I shut down the setting reverts to 'enable' the touchpad when the external mouse is connected so, every time I start up I need to go in to the control panel and redo the 'disable' drill.